Thursday, October 23, 2008

VIEW FROM TOP>>Can you make lemonade?

By Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Brinkley
19th Airlift Wing command chief

I’ve often heard the statement that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Many of us are faced with difficult situations whether it’s maintaining our aging air fleet, balancing our household budgets or handling health related concerns.

The difference between looking at rotting lemons and enjoying the refreshing taste of lemonade is our attitude and our actions.

If necessity is truly the mother of invention, then we have opportunities to birth many improvements to our work and living environments. If not handled correctly our challenges can turn into burdens that can stress us to the point of breaking. I believe that worrying has never solved any problems, but it has caused many more. So we must endeavor to look at our situations in different ways as we are more fiscally strained and stretched with requirements.

Many people I know have started to adjust how they spend their money; sacrificing the short term pleasures for long term security. In my house we have tightened up on unnecessary spending. Gen. Schatz has challenged our wing to find more efficient ways to get our jobs done; because he understands that we cannot continue to do more with less. We are looking at doing less with less. The 19th Airlift Wing is currently studying programs that may not be necessary to run anymore due to manning.

All of these represent us looking at our situations and making them better for our wing, families and local community. Each of you is the key to these initiatives being successful. Please look at the 90 percent of the situation you own, which is your reaction to the 10 percent that happens to you. If we all work together, we can all enjoy the lemonade that we all create together.

Combat Airlift!

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